Breaking the Avatar Out of the Iceberg Day
by Anaroriel
Summary: Kataang goodness. As the third anniversary of Aang's release from the iceberg approaches, Katara and Sokka decide to throw Aang a festival at the place where it all began.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Characters and setting? Sadly not mine. Crazy shenanigans by said not-mine characters? Those I would claim as mine. :D

Katara had been gutting a fish for dinner when a hushed cry rippled through her village. People were running, there was laughing like she hadn't heard since one of their most respected leaders – Gran-Gran – had passed, and even though Katara had work to do, she was caught up in the swell of excitement that seemed to have no source. She rushed outside, following the flow of people toward the docks, and before she could catch her breath it was taken away from her again: the Avatar, her Aang, had come.

There was chanting and cheering as the villagers huddled around their savior. Aang was bowing, a large grin on his face, as he greeted the Southern Water Tribe. A group of young girls were standing near, giggling behind their hands at this Avatar they have not seen in a while. He was taller now, almost as tall as their chief Hakoda, his body lean and muscular from the many types bending he continued to master.

Despite the attention he was receiving, his eyes scanned the crowd and only stopped when they fell upon her. Katara gasped, her heart in her throat, as her boyfriend of over two years surged through the crowd.

"Hi," she said when her best friend stopped in front of her. She played with her dark hair loops, her blue eyes hooded with shyness. Luckily for Katara, he never let her be shy for long.

Aang pulled her into a hug and pressed his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry about Gran-Gran. I know how much she meant to you."

Katara leaned against him. His warmth, after a month of separation, was unexpectedly wonderful. A cotton taste filled her mouth as she tried to speak. "Thank you." She gripped his waist, her anchor to the world, and rubbed her cheek against the soft yellow robes draped over his shoulder. They stood, basking in their own private world for a small moment.

Aang placed a kiss at her hairline. "I've missed you."

Lifting an eyebrow, Katara tilted her head to the side, suddenly feeling playful. "That's it?"

"What's it?"

Katara smacked his arm. "After not seeing each other for over a month, all I get is a kiss on the head and a hug?" It took all of Katara's concentration to keep a straight face, but she knew she was failing when she saw Aang also struggling to hide his amusement behind a contrite expression.

"I'm sorry for –"

Katara slapped his arm again, lighter this time. "Oh, just kiss me, Aang."

Grinning down at her – yes, down – Aang obliged her. The heat from his kiss warmed her down to her toes and overwhelmed her. He was definitely making up for being gone so long, and judging by the whistles that rose up from a few village men around them, Katara wasn't the only one who thought he was succeeding.

Someone cleared his throat behind them. Aang and Katara broke apart.

"Excuse me, Avatar Aang," Katara's father said. He was frowning slightly. "I apologize for interrupting, but you said you have important news regarding our sister tribe and the Fire Lord to discuss."

"Uh, yes." For a moment Aang looked as disorientated as Katara felt. He squeezed Katara's hand. "I'll find you later." He smiled as heat rose to Katara's cheeks.

"Okay." Her eyes softened as she stared at him. After a few dreamy moments, Katara realized why Aang could not move away and dropped the hand that she was clutching, blushing even more.

As Aang moved away, he glanced back at her, smirking. He was well aware of the effect he had on her now.

Sokka appeared next to her. His eyes swung back and forth between the two of them making goo goo eyes at each other. "Right. So I guess Dad and I are taking shifts to make sure you two don't disappear together. Or maybe we can stick Aang in that metal cage that we usually use for the seal-boars. You don't think that Aang has learned from Toph how to metal-bend yet?"

"Sokka."

"What? You think I missed that whole exchange? At least be courteous enough to do it far away from me. I don't want to hear or see anything. Don't make me go to the Fire Nation and beg Zuko to burn images from my brain."

"Oh, like you were so chaste when you were fifteen." She bit back a sigh of disappoint when her father led Aang to the new Tribe Council building that Master Pakku had created. They were about to enter when Aang turned around for one last look. With a water-bending move she did not know, he formed something in his hands out of the ice dripping down the roof and sent it her way with a blast of air. Katara caught it and held up into the early dying light. It was an ice sculpture in the shape of the panda lily.

"You two sicken me," Sokka said and walked off, muttering under his breath. "And I'm keeping my eye on you." He pointed at her then at his eyes and back again, only stopping when he tripped over a tent peg and landed face down in blackened slush.

"Hey, wait, Sokka," Katara said. Sokka ignored her as she came up, too focused on spitting out dirty snow. "Sokka, what day is today?"

"I don't know. About a week or so until the winter solstice? Why?"

"I was just thinking, that's all." Katara didn't care to elaborate, but Sokka continued to glare at her. "It's just, strange. Soon it will be three years since we found Aang. Can you believe how much has changed? I wish – I wish Mom and Gran-Gran could be with us. They wouldn't be able to recognize the world we live in now." Sadness crept over her. She couldn't believe another person she loved was gone.

Sokka reached for her gloved hand. "Mom and Gran-Gran would be proud of you, you know that? You're so strong, like they were."

"Thanks, Sokka." She brushed away a tear.

"You know what we should do?" Sokka stood and glanced around, his eyes gleaming. "We should have a celebration. Breaking the Avatar Out of the Iceberg Day. We never have a lot of festivals out here anyway, and this one we could claim as completely ours."

Katara's face lit up. "You're a genius, Sokka!" She laughed. "Our own Avatar Day."

"We are not serving unfried dough." He made a face. "But yeah, we should get the entire village involved; our way of welcoming Aang and thanking him for saving the world, at the place where it all started. Come on," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her along as he half ran back to their tent. "We need to get planning."

You've read it! Now review it! Thanks muchly. :D


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys! Please enjoy and review. :) Thanks!**

**Chapter Two  
**

The news of the holiday spread through the village by the next morning. Everyone seemed to want a part in the celebration, and they all wanted to honor Aang in any way they knew how.

Katara and Sokka had no idea how much planning and coordination an event like this needed when they came up with it. Both of them were feeling overwhelmed and bewildered by the beast they had created.

"We need to make an official list. This is just getting too out of hand," Sokka said and pulled out an old piece of parchment and a writing brush. The siblings were hiding in their family igloo, since every time they tried to venture outside, another tribesman would accost them, asking what they could possibly do for the Avatar on his holiday. It was exhausting, especially since they did not know how to answer most of them.

"If we can just write down all of our ideas and delegate them, it would be way more manageable," Sokka continued. He licked the brush, effectively turning his tongue and lips black, then dipped it into an ink bottle and paused thoughtfully over the parchment.

"Good idea, Sokka." Katara slumped against a stool near the fire and balanced her chin against her hand. "Okay, so Mina and her family and Dodda and his family have both offered to help with the food. I think Hani and Geto and their families would also be willing to help with that." Katara stood and began to pace as Sokka sloshed ink around. "So what kind of food should we tell them to prepare? Ooh, maybe we should have a banquet in the new government building with everyone. That would be fun. And Aang's a vegetarian, so we can just have meatless meals made in his honor." Katara bit her lip. "Well, maybe not stewed sea-prunes." Aang hated them.

"We need fun food too," Sokka said. "Ooh, oh, wait!" Sokka began to write furiously, ink smearing across the page. "We should have ice cream, or snow cones. And then we can put miniature Aang dolls in them!"

Sokka finally noticed her silence and looked up. Her expression was of pure distaste and horror. "We are not doing that."

"Ah, come on, Katara. It'll be fun. Hey, maybe we should only put him in a few of them, so the people who find them get a prize. We can make them out of string, or candy. It should be easy, right?" Sokka pulled a woven cord and began to knot it into what he thought looked like the Avatar.

"Okay, well, you work on that." Katara knew from experience that it was often just better to leave things alone in regards to her brother. "I'll run across the way and ask Hani and Geto if they're willing to help." Katara left their igloo, shaking her head at her brother's silliness. Sometimes he had fantastic plans, and other times, well, other times he wanted to put toy Aangs in ice cream.

"Katara." Aang's cheery voice reached her shortly before he did. He pulled her into a hug. The airbender was wearing a standard blue coat and boots, the first time she had ever seen him wear it. It brought out the blue hue in his gray eyes and accented the color of the arrow running back from his forehead. Without thinking, Katara reached up and placed her gloved hand against it, love unfolding in her eyes. She could not believe how much she missed seeing that beautiful tattooed symbol.

"Hi," he said with a smoldering smile that reminded her of the kiss from the night before. He took the hand pressed against his skin and kissed her hand through her glove. "I'm sorry I didn't get to see you again last night. You look beautiful this morning though."

"Hey, Aang." Her cheeks darkened slightly at his unwavering attention. She didn't remember him being this forward before, especially in the South Pole. Aang always kept a respectful distance in the past, just in case her father or someone who would tell her father saw them in a less than chaste embrace. Slightly nervous, Katara broke their eye contact and glanced around the area to see if anyone was spying on them. "How's the igloo my father gave you?"

"It's a bit too roomy." His eyes flickered, looking both mischievous and sexy. "I wish there was someone else–"

Out of the corner of her eye, Katara spotted Hani marching across the way. Grimacing at the poor timing, she put a hand against Aang's arm. "Could you hold that thought? I'll be right back."

Before Aang could respond, Katara shot off to chase down Hani, the best cook in the entire village. Hani was not a patient woman, and she kept walking even as Katara puffed out her request and held her aching side. "So what do you think?" Katara asked between gasps.

"All right. I'll do it." Hani said. She dropped a basket of fire chips against the side of her tent. They had not yet received an upgrade on their living quarters, and Katara and Pakku were swamped enough with repairs and adjustments as it was. "Go in and speak to my son, will you? I think we have a nice long piece of cloth that you could use for a banner. You are making a banner, right?"

Hani's voice was so critical that Katara, who hadn't even thought to make one, stumbled over her words to assure Hani that of course they were.

Retto, Hani's son, sat by the fire with a fraying net in his lap. He grinned when he saw Katara and stood up, wobbling slightly on his bad leg before giving her a hug that left her blushing. He was one of the more physical young men of the village, even towards girls that were already spoken for, like Katara. Katara couldn't help notice that he was also one of the more attractive.

"How's my favorite Southern Water Tribe waterbender?" Retto resumed his place by the fire, favoring the leg he injured in the war and gestured for Katara to take a seat on a stool.

Katara blinked, wondering if he was serious. "I'm the only Southern Water Tribe waterbender."

Retto waved that away as if to say, 'details, details'. Katara smiled in spite of herself. "So, what can I do for you?"

Katara quickly explained her and Sokka's plans for Breaking the Avatar Out of the Iceberg Day. Retto listened with rapt attention, nodding eagerly whenever she took a breath. "That sounds like a great plan. We should definitely give him a celebration in his honor. I'll talk to some of the men and see if there isn't more we can do for him."

"Great. Wonderful." Katara grinned with happiness. She was so proud that her tribe was enthusiastic and wanted to get involved in this. "Where is the cloth that your mother was talking about?"

"It's over there. Let me get it for you." Retto limped over to a basket holding a large assortment of fabrics and paints. "Here, you should just take the entire thing and return what you don't use. We're happy to contribute anything to this."

"That's really sweet, Retto, Sokka and I really appreciate it, and I know Aang will appreciate it too." With one last deep nod of respect, Katara lifted up the basket and scurried out of the tent. Retto always made her slightly nervous with his good looks, charms, and physical nature. She felt relieved to escape into the cold air to mask her red cheeks.

Katara nearly bumped into Aang on her way back to her family's igloo. "Oh, Aang. Hi. Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"What's that?" Aang asked. He looked at the basket in her arms curiously, and Katara had the irrational urge to shove it behind her back.

"Just some stuff for some, uh, stuff that Sokka and I are doing," Katara said. She cleared her throat and placed the basket by her feet. "So, where were we?" She moved forward into his arms and laced her hands behind his neck, giving him easy access in case – Katara hoped – he decided to kiss her.

Aang smiled and gripped her waist tighter. "Oh, I was just mentioning that –"

"Katara!" Sokka stuck his head out of the igloo and glared at her. The two lovers sprung apart. "Stop flirting with your boyfriend and get in here and help me. It's not like we have two weeks to do this, you know."

Aang frowned. "Do what?"

"It's nothing. Just tribe business. I'll see you for dinner for sure." Katara gave him a peck on the cheek, then hurried to chastise her brother for almost giving away their surprise. She thought she saw Aang's face droop with hurt, but she decided she must have imagined it as she hustled her supplies away.

Sokka had more errands for her to run, since he decided he was the one who needed to stay put in case people came to see them for answers or suggestions. Katara gave him several withering glances, even though people did stop by every half hour, and put him to work on the banner at least.

It was late afternoon before Katara returned after consulting with Geto and his family, Dakara, the village midwife, her father and his advisors, and finally Master Pakku for some cool water bending special effects.

"I think it might storm tomorrow," Katara said with a slight shiver as she entered the tent. She dropped a basket of supplies onto the ground and shook the snow from her coat. "Hopefully it will pass before the holiday." Sokka didn't reply. "Sokka?"

"We might have a problem with the banner. See, I ran out of space." Something in Sokka's voice was not right, it was too full of held back laughter. Frowning, Katara moved behind her brother to study his handiwork and gasped when she read the characters written upon it.

"_Breaking the Avatar_? We can't put up a sign that just says _Breaking the Avatar_! "

"You know, I kind of like it how it is," Sokka said, turning his head from side to side. "It's original, and catchy." He rubbed the back of his hand against his nose, smearing red paint across it like a bizarre blush.

"Can't you just, I don't know, flip it over and write _Avatar Day_ on it instead?"

"That one's already been taken! And besides, Aang's bound to have bad memories of that place. We want something that represents us and our special connection to the Avatar anyway, don't we?"

"But putting up a sign that says _Breaking the Avatar _does not establish that." Katara took deep breaths to calm herself. "Sokka, listen – "

"Hey, Katara, are you in there?" There was a knock at the front of the igloo. The two Water Tribe siblings stared at each other with large eyes. If Aang came in, he would see everything and know something was up. Before Katara could react, Sokka stood up and shoved her out of the tent and swished the fur hanging shut.

"Aang," Katara said as she stumbled and nearly fell over. A part of her was not excited to see him at the moment because she really didn't want to leave all the planning to her brother, who suddenly wanted this entire celebration turned into a giant hoax. She couldn't allow him to do that to her and her Aang. "What do you need?"

Aang looked startled, and Katara realized that she sounded rather cross. "I'm sorry. I thought we were going to eat dinner together. But if you're busy –"

"Oh yes, that's right." Katara rubbed her temples. She was so stressed that just the thought of food made her feel nauseous. She couldn't believe how big a random idea could grow in two short days. "Actually, Aang, I am really busy."

"Oh. I just thought –" Aang shook his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I came at a bad time for the Water Tribe. I should have – well. I guess I'll leave you to it then."

Guilt pervaded her conscious as she watched him walk away. She wanted to spend time with him, she really did, but she knew that this celebration was bigger than them now, it was a way for the Southern Tribe to show their gratitude towards the Avatar for all that he had done for them. She had never seen her tribe so energetic and happy to work towards a goal before. For so long her Tribe had been beaten by the Fire Nation, ravished by poverty, and broken by the lost of their waterbenders and warriors to the war, that it was encouraging to see that maybe, maybe they could finally find the hope to build their Tribe back up again. Katara knew that even though this celebration seemed like a trivial thing, it was the start of something great.

**A/N: You've read it, now review! Thanks again. :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Katara, get up!" Sokka shoved her sleeping form from where it lay nestled in her sleeping bag. Katara shivered in the cold and tried to roll back, but Sokka pushed her again. "Katara, the holiday is _tomorrow. _We don't have time to sleep in."

"I know, I know." Katara rubbed her eyes and tried to focus. "What do we need to do today?"

Sokka sat down and began prattling on about what needed to be accomplished. Just glancing at the list that touched his knees made Katara feel overwhelmed and again, slightly nauseous with stress. There was too much to do and she had wanted to go see Aang.

"I've fixed the banner," Sokka said after a pause from his reading. "It's much better now."

"Better how?" Katara's mind lit up with a million terrible outcomes to that one phrase. Other titles, like Frozen Avatar Day piled up one after another, each worse than the first.

Sokka stood up with a smile and rummaged through a pile of supplies in the corner. "Ah, here it is." He pulled it free and with a great flourish, revealed it. "Avatar Iceberg Day!"

It would have to do. "That's great, Sokka," Katara said. It was better than Breaking the Avatar Day, at the very least. Pulling her hair back, Katara began to braid her hair, leaving two strands on either side of her head for her hair loops. "It sounds to me like you've got this pretty much on your own, so I'm going to go see Aang."

"What? No I don't." Panic filled Sokka's eyes. "You just can't abandon me to go make out with your boyfriend. It's for him, remember?"

"Sokka, we've delegated everything. There's not much for us to do now. Everything on your list is being taken care of by others. Don't you trust our village to do it correctly?" Katara turned to give him her saddest, biggest eyes, hoping that his big brother instincts would kick in and give her whatever she wished for. "Besides, I haven't said more than ten words to him in over a month. Surely you, with your ingenious ideas and quick thinking, could handle any problems for an hour or so."

"You're twisting everything." He turned away, but his eyes got pulled back by her tiger-puppy eyes. "All right, fine. Get out of here. But only an hour!"

Katara was so happy to finally see Aang that she was practically skipping across the frozen tundra. Several of the children laughed when they saw her – she knew she looked ridiculous – and Katara grinned and waved and she swept past.

A hand reached out and stopped her, and Katara almost fell over in surprise. "Retto," she said as she stabilized her footing. "I wasn't expecting to see you out here."

"I just came back from a highly specialized mission," he said with a smile. Retto leaned in close to whisper against her ear. "The men and I are working on a float to honor the Avatar." His warm breath blew against her skin and she shivered.

"Great," Katara said. Aang loved that kind of celebration. "When will you be done?"

"By the holiday, we think. We're working around the clock on it. The Avatar deserves it, after he has done so much for this village, and Chief Hakoda's beautiful daughter." She blushed at his tone.

"Katara?" Aang's voice was directly behind them, and the two conspirators jumped.

"Well, I'd best be going," Retto said. He nodded at Aang. "Avatar."

Katara tried to wipe the guilty look from her face as Aang studied her silently, his eyes a dull, unhappy gray. How long had he been watching them, and what did he suspect?

"Who is that?" Aang sent a glare at Retto's receding back. He crossed his arms across his chest, causing his oversized coat to puff out strangely.

"Oh, that's Retto. He's an old friend of the family. He fought with my father during the war." Katara wondered if her tone was too casual and she flitted with her hair nervously.

"And what did he want?"

"Oh, nothing. Just tribe business. Would you like to take a walk?" She took her arm and began to steer him away.

Aang was silent, his face dark. Worried, Katara guided him in the direction of the penguins. Animals always cheered him up in the past, but the appearance of the feathered and whiskered creatures did not seem to alleviate his mood.

"Aang." Katara bit her lip, her voice quiet with trepidation after a long awkwardness settled between the two of them. "Did something happen in the month since we were together?"

"I don't know, _did _something happen?"

Katara was taken aback by the venom in his tone. "What do you mean?"

He pulled away from her and studied her face. "Katara, since the moment I've gotten here you haven't paid attention to me at all. I just wish –" Aang rubbed the back of neck and turned his back to her. "You can tell me the truth, you know. I wish you would. I –" Aang took a deep breath as he struggled with his words. Moisture formed his eyes, and he turned his head away to hide his weakness. "I would understand if you – if you didn't want this anymore and just told me. I would prefer it so much more than this – sneaking around behind my back and lying."

Startled, Katara took a step back. Her mouth dropped open, and she almost laughed until she saw how serious Aang's expression was. "Aang," she said slowly. It suddenly occurred to her how the exchange between Retto and her must have looked to him; the two of them close, his flirting smile, her shivering with pleasure from his warm breath and then blushing when he whispered in her ear… "Please. It's not what you think it is."

"Is it?" Hurt ripped across his features for a moment before they returned to unsettled calm. "I saw the way you acted with that Water Tribesman just now. I know you must be mad at me for not being here for you when Gran-Gran died. I'm sorry. But you shouldn't punish me for my destiny, the destiny that _you _encouraged."

"Aang, stop." Katara didn't know what else to say, she was completely flabbergasted. "There is nothing going on with Retto."

"If you're trying to push me away again, please just end it. I don't think I could –"

"I can't believe you're accusing me of cheating on you." Shock shifted into fury as Aang continued to disbelieve her. "I can't believe you of all people… You, the pretentious flirt!"

"Me, the flirt? You're calling me a flirt?" It was Aang's turn to take a step back.

"Everywhere we go women fall over you because you don't do anything to discourage their fawning. Do you even know what that's like for me?" Katara tried to force herself to stop, but her tongue was ignoring her common sense. She was ruining it, ruining everything. "You're the one who keeps leaving me places for months at a time. How do I know that _you're _the one being faithful, huh? I'm just the girl waiting for you to come back while women jump you wherever you go. Well, I'm sick of it!"

No, she wasn't. What was she saying? But Katara was crushed. If he was going to accuse her of cheating, she wished that she had actually done the crime. And she hated herself for feeling that way. Katara tried to walk away, but it felt so strange. Aang was the one who ran away, not her.

"Katara." Aang's raw pain in that one word was so strong Katara stopped mid-stride. She hadn't been able to move very far anyway.

Her teeth clenched together painfully as she tried to come up with something to say. She felt like she couldn't even look at him, and her eyes traced the shapes of the penguins that waddled around them, happy and oblivious to the pain and tension emanating from their guests. Katara was crying, but she did not want to show him how much he hurt her, how much she hurt from hurting him. Carefully she waterbended her tears away from her eyes and face and let them drop frozen from her hands.

When Katara finally turned around, ready to face him, Aang was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

He was running again. It was the first thing that came to mind – an accusation, a judgment of his character and a terrible synopsis of his flaws. As if Aang were that simple – a runner. As if she was that simple to take all the complexities of a person and limit it to one description. Even after all these years, she was still doing it. The Fire Nation was evil. Her father deserted them. Aang was a runner.

Sniffling against the cold stinging her face, she tried to think. When Aang left just then, surely he just intended to return to the village. A chill gripped her, despite the warm furs wrapping her. What if Aang left the South Pole? What if he ran away forever – from her?

Taking advantage of her surroundings she lured a nearby penguin to her and slid down the gradually declining hill towards the village. The pre-storm wind began to kick up the snow, blinding her with its whiteness and crusting her eyelashes with ice.

He was sitting on Appa when she found him.

"Aang. Aang, please don't go." Despite her stubbornness, she could not keep the sad desperation out of her tone.

His gray eyes looked down at her with surprise. His mouth remained slightly ajar, and yet he looked as if he held his breath.

"I mean." Katara hesitated, her pride puffing up with the growing expectation on his face. "I mean, what about our village? They will be hurt if you leave now."

Disappointment creased his face before it slid into coolness. "I won't leave, Katara," Aang said quietly. Her heart broke at the tone he used for her name. Had he ever said her name in quite that way before? It was distant and chilly and lacked all the intimacy they shared the past two years. It was as if he denied knowing her at all.

"I will not dishonor this tribe by leaving in the middle of peace talks," he said. "I'm just going to take a ride on Appa."

"But there's a storm coming. Aang, it's not –"

"Oh." He looked dismayed by this. "Then I'll be back in less than an hour. Is that all right?"

Katara could only nod. The storm would fully arrive around mid-afternoon and the morning was not yet over.

"Come on, Appa," he said to his flying bison companion, "yip yip."

Katara let him go. She could not decide how to feel – heartbroken, furious, ashamed?

"Where's Aang going?" Sokka said from behind her.

"He's leaving." In the corner of her eye she saw Sokka react to the intensity in her voice by taking a step back.

"Wait, he's leaving for good or?"

"No. Just –" Her body crumbled to the ground and she sobbed. Sokka was immediately at her side, a gentle hand on her shoulder before she fell against him in tears. "Oh, Sokka."

Her older brother – afraid that this would cause some sort of rumor to circle the village – led her into their nearby igloo and let her cry it out. She felt bad for him – she knew how much he hated getting involved in their relationship. But she needed someone to talk to.

The warmth and familiar smell of cooking and animals furs inside the igloo did nothing to soothe her. "We fought," she began, her voice quivering with emotion. "He started it. He accused me of cheating and then, and then I said such awful things to him." She shook her head roughly, hair loops slapping against her face. "There's always something getting in the way."

Sokka leaned forward to hear over the wind scattering white through their village. It deafened everything inside, and the fire shivered light along the walls.

"There's always something getting through." Breath formed evanescent pockets in the air. "But it's not me. It's just – it has to be his fault, doesn't it?" Hesitation and doubt filled her eyes. "It's him. He completely misinterpreted everything."

"Maybe it's not a matter of who's at fault," Sokka said after a long pause. "Sometimes, sometimes things happen, bad things, and there's no one to blame."

Katara shook her head. "There's always someone at fault, Sokka. Our mother died because of the Fire Nation. Our father had to leave us because of the Fire Nation. Combustion Man nearly killed us because of Zuko, Aang almost... because of Azula –" Katara dropped her face into her hands.

Sokka reached forward and squeezed her shoulder. "You know that's not true in all cases, Katara. Would you say it's..." Sokka glanced around wildly for inspiration. "Oh! Would you say it's Aang's fault that he got stuck in that iceberg for a hundred years?"

"No, of course not." How could she? If she were in Aang's position, Katara would have probably run too, particularly if she had to be taken from her family. Instead her family had been taken away from her. She could never say Aang was to blame.

She couldn't imagine what it must have been like, stuck in a storm like the one building outside, plunged into the sea, then losing consciousness and ... waking up a hundred years later, everyone she knew already gone, and Katara left wholly alone.

"Does Aang know about the storm coming?" Sokka asked. "Katara, does Aang know about the storm?"

"He should be back in an hour, that's what he told me." Drying her tears, she stood up. "Come on, we've still got work to do by tomorrow."

"But –"

"I'm fine, Sokka. I've been able to work and move on with more heartache than this."

Sokka frowned, but he did not comment.

By one o'clock, Katara was so antsy that Sokka banished her from their igloo. "Go see Aang."

"I can't do that. Besides," she fished for an excuse, "we still have more work and planning to do."

"Like?"

"Like preparing the government building for the festival and banquet." She paused, feeling rather satisfied with her on-the-spot invention.

"We're doing that tomorrow with Ikue and his family." Sokka sighed and pressed his fingers against his temples. "At the very least, you should go give Aang some of our stew and an extra sleeping bag. You don't want him to go cold and hungry, do you?"

"Oh, no." What kind of girlfriend was she? Then she remembered; she might not be his girlfriend any longer.

Seeing the tears forming, Sokka shoved a small, sealed pot at his sister and then messily rolled up a sleeping bag before pressing it into her arms. "At the very least, say it was from me, okay?"

Swirls of snowflakes fell against her face and drizzled white against her dark hair when she stepped outside. Katara wished that she had thought to pull her hood up to protect herself against the chill, but if she were to do it now it would only dump the iciness down the back of her dress. Shivers dressed in pain rolled down her body as her feet crunched and broke against the thickening snow. It was almost nice to feel something after the numbness of that morning.

She arrived sooner than she expected and wished. Taking a deep breath, she moved forward, willing herself to at least give the stew to him before it went cold. Grasping the outside of the igloo where Aang temporarily resided, she bent to untie the fur entrance when someone else exited it.

"If you need anything else, Avatar Aang," the person, whom she could now identify as Ikue, one of the male hunters of the village, yelled over the shrieking winds, "please, do not hesitate to come to my family's – Ah! Katara."

Katara nearly lost her balance when he backed into her. She could now see into the igloo, and what she saw thoroughly dismayed her. Against the far wall of the igloo was at least a dozen sleeping bags, and around the fire in the center were several pots in varying sizes, all steaming pleasantly with the promise of warm food. Her small sacrifice of snow-cabbage stew and an old sleeping bag looked like a mere afterthought in comparison.  
Aang's eyes focused on her when Ikue said her name. That small contact was too much for her, and Katara dropped her head, blushing guiltily.

It took a few seconds to realize that Ikue was talking to her. "—you tomorrow."

"Uh, yes," Katara answered. Aang was biting his lip, trying to hold back a smile. The edges of his lips turned up, trying to fight the oppression of their owner.

When Ikue walked away, Aang stood to the side, a clear indication that she should enter. It was too late to turn back now, and with a racing heart Katara entered the igloo.

Within a moment the wind was nearly silenced. Katara gripped her pot and sleeping bag against her absurd desire to rip the fur entrance open again, just for the wind to fill the uncomfortable quiet.

"This is from Sokka and me." She put the pot on the floor, noticing with a scowl that theirs was one of the smaller ones. Why hadn't Sokka given her the bigger pot? "And this – this is an extra sleeping bag. It gets really cold during storms." She realized she sounded like an idiot and shut up.

Still, only silence. Katara felt that Aang was waiting for her to look at him before he spoke, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. "Well, that's all," she said. Involuntarily she glanced up to find her watching her with a solemn expression, and she cursed herself for even that small second of eye contact. Like the other fights in the past, once they were back in each other's presence, she could never remember why exactly they were upset with each other. As much as she strained to remember, the fight and the reasoning for the pain would hardly ever reemerge, as was the case now.

"Katara, I think we should talk about this."

"Okay," she said softly. After all, what was there really to talk about? The only thing that she could think of now was that she loved him. What else was there to say?

Aang sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, I didn't mean –"

The heavy moose-orca flap shuddered then flapped open. "Avatar Aang, my family wishes to—"

Katara closed her eyes, the fight she so willed to forget flooding her mind with the untimely arrival of Retto.

"Katara," Retto said, surprised. He was leaning on a walking stick, holding a pot twice the size of hers with one hand and balancing a sleeping bag against his stick with the other. Retto blushed suddenly, looking from the Avatar to her and back again. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting—"

"No." The two of them spoke at the same time, and blushing, turned their heads away, affirming with their redness that Retto was indeed interrupting them.

"I actually was just leaving." Katara bent down and placed her sleeping bag against the stack. "Have a good night, Aang."

She let Retto move past her to present his gifts to the Avatar. As she was securing the flap, she thought she saw Aang pick up her sleeping bag from the pile and place it gently next to his.


End file.
